https://nypost.com/2019/01/16/trumps-washington-dc-hotel-lease-may-violate-constitution-watchdog/
Trump’s Washington DC hotel lease may violate Constitution: watchdog
By Bob Fredericks
January 16, 2019 | 5:40pm | Updated
Modal Trigger
Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC LightRocket via Getty Images
More On:
donald trump
Giuliani: 'No chance' Trump colluded with Russians, can't say same about campaign aides
Pelosi's latest shutdown gimmick: Taunting Trump
Liberals are reading way too much into Trump news stories
Trump can't just let the Treasury do the fighting
The General Services Administration ignored worries that President Trump’s lease on a government-owned building that houses his DC hotel could violate the Constitution when the agency let him keep the lease after he won the White House, the agency’s top watchdog said Wednesday.
The Trump Organization won the lease before he became president, and after he was elected, the GSA had to decide whether his company could keep the lease for the building, home to the Trump International Hotel.
The GSA’s inspector general said the agency should have determined whether the lease violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bans presidents from taking payments from foreign governments.
But it never did, according to the report issued Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
“We found that [GSA] improperly ignored these Emoluments Clauses, even though the lease itself requires compliance with the laws of the United States, including the Constitution,” the report said.
Since he was elected, a number of foreign governments have held events and rented rooms there.
Congressional Democrats and the Democratic attorneys general of Maryland and DC have filed lawsuits alleging that those transactions put Trump in violation of the Constitution because his company was profiting from foreign cash.
The report does not recommend that Trump’s lease be canceled but said there should be a fresh review of the deal.
Trump’s Washington DC hotel lease may violate Constitution: watchdog
By Bob Fredericks
January 16, 2019 | 5:40pm | Updated
Modal Trigger
Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC LightRocket via Getty Images
More On:
donald trump
Giuliani: 'No chance' Trump colluded with Russians, can't say same about campaign aides
Pelosi's latest shutdown gimmick: Taunting Trump
Liberals are reading way too much into Trump news stories
Trump can't just let the Treasury do the fighting
The General Services Administration ignored worries that President Trump’s lease on a government-owned building that houses his DC hotel could violate the Constitution when the agency let him keep the lease after he won the White House, the agency’s top watchdog said Wednesday.
The Trump Organization won the lease before he became president, and after he was elected, the GSA had to decide whether his company could keep the lease for the building, home to the Trump International Hotel.
The GSA’s inspector general said the agency should have determined whether the lease violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bans presidents from taking payments from foreign governments.
But it never did, according to the report issued Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
“We found that [GSA] improperly ignored these Emoluments Clauses, even though the lease itself requires compliance with the laws of the United States, including the Constitution,” the report said.
Since he was elected, a number of foreign governments have held events and rented rooms there.
Congressional Democrats and the Democratic attorneys general of Maryland and DC have filed lawsuits alleging that those transactions put Trump in violation of the Constitution because his company was profiting from foreign cash.
The report does not recommend that Trump’s lease be canceled but said there should be a fresh review of the deal.
